Sophie HaGirafa's Society

You must know it by now... Almost 50 years that Sophie La Girafe is every French Baby's must-have. Every baby has a cot, a stroller, some clothing of course....and the giraffe.


I am however constantly surprised when talking to French parents: most did not know that that Giraffe has a name. Funny, don't you think? It shows us that when a product is tried & approved, with or without a name, it will work. (Let me add that Sophie La Girafe was never part of any French advertising campaign, she succeeded by word of mouth, and that was way before the Internet ^__^)


Until 2007 Sofi was France's Best Kept Secret. I do not think it was "on purpose", the fact is when you are so used to something, in this case to Girafa Sophie, you forget that it does not necessarily exist in other countries, you do not think about it ....until someone at some point gets the "eureka" moment and launches Sophie La Girafe to be a world sensation, soothing every gum and enchanting babies and parents alike across the globe.


In the US, Sophie is big! To the point that in one of the parenting Forums, a mom who loved Sophie so much, created a badge that says : "My child is part of the Sophie Society" and other users agreeing with her, post it in their signature as well...

See how cute it is!!

NB: I am a bit puzzled with the cute owl and sleeping moon Hooters... does anyone know what it refers to? I doubt it is the restaurant!?


 In Israel Sofi HaGirafa has her own Club on the almighty Facebook and her Hebrew Tapuz Blog. It will be neat the day we discover a similar badge in Hebrew on the forums here.



In the meantime, remember: Sophie Ha Girafa is 100% Natural and 100% Love(d), she "is definitely worth it" as some like to say ...

Everyone smiles in the same language.

~Author Unknown

We got our first recognition badge!

Sort of. :) Actually it is not Sofi per se but the blog... Still it is the first "badge" ^__^

You may have noticed it on the right hand-side scrolling down...

The badge comes from Go! Overseas. It is no so much for our Star Sophie The teether even though she is the reason for the blog, but for the experience of starting "something" ( anything!)  in a new country. It is a fabulous adventure where one learns everyday a lot. I highly recommend it and if you need some "cheerleading" , contact me! ^__^

Go! Overseas mission:

Creating a centralized website to provide the resources required for meaningful travel abroad. That idea has grown and expanded into  a community driven website of like minded people who are all passionate about teaching, studying and volunteering abroad. GO! Overseas features a popular forum where users regularly discuss a wide range of travel topics, and a blog community where they have brought together a wealth of overseas travel experiences. They also regularly post insightful articles to help expand the communities knowledge about opportunities to travel abroad.

I ended up spending a lot of times on their site reading blogs about Culture Shock, Travelling...and have not even reached the forums yet! It has a lot of resources and informations and if you intend even vaguely a stint abroad: I really recommend you to go and check Go!Overseas.

So thank you Andrew for the honour ! ^__^

Both Sophie and I are very pleased. And my gratitude to all of you ( mostly silent readers ^__^ ) because without you, this blog would not be here.

Merci!

Worlwide Sophie La Girafe: a truly and uniquely French sensation!

Can you believe that the tiny, French, 49 year-old Sophie HaGirafa, is now available in 38 countries over 4 continents and that happened in the last couple of years only?

We are not talking about a big multinational or international company, where taking on the world is expected. We are talking about Vulli.

Vulli, the maker of Sophie The Giraffe, was created in 1946. It is a French company from the Alps with less than a 100 workers. Its name comes from Mr. Vullierme who launched it. They are very famous on the French market for all kinds of toys and baby products and their patented technique of "rotating molding"... Sophie The Giraffe, since the sixties, is by far their top-success!

Sophie The Giraffe started her international stardom mostly through a French mother who upon relocating to the US decided it would be cool to launch Sophie la Girafe. It worked! And from there the little  giraffe keeps on rolling...



I can see how international she is through this little blog: It has visitors from everywhere! I am amazed that it is read in countries I can only dream of visiting! I love this virtual travelling when I see the flags of the visitors.


True, some of my faithful readers are long-time friends scattered along our little planet that I have met in expat life. E-Mail, Facebook, Twitter: They're all good, but never under-estimate the power of a Sophie HaGirafa and a blog.  ^__^


I cannot help but be curious about the other readers. I wonder if you find what you are looking for when landing on the blog...or if you just ended up here at the suggestion of some random search engine?

One "old" post seems to bring many visitors too... but I suspect they were looking for a drink and not a giraffe... or could it be our art-work that has been bringing visitors in? ^__^

And please remember.... your comments and questions are welcome!

("bandiere" source )

                

 NB: Next time you think " La France", do not stop at:

 "baguette", wine", "cheese", "fashion", "love", "Eiffel Tower"

^__^  

Sofi ha girafa says תודה רבה רבה

I got a good surprise today!

 TrendCounter informed me the blog received

1000 unique Visitors from Israel since its beginning.

Sofi  the girafa and I want to thank you all and especially the 1000th visitor...

Such a huge number for a tiny blog about Sophie La girafe and mostly Giraffes....Too bad I cannot know who that was!

 Thank you! Toda! Toda! תודה רבה

                                                          

Thank you Lior for the illustration!

Numbers numbers numbers....

12-06-2009, 04-27-2010, 22 , 1460 , 60

Nope, those are not the lotto winning combination--though you are free to try it!

As of today,

since December 6, 2009,

22 stores in Israel carry Sophie,

1460 visitors came to the blog

from 60 countries (and counting) ...

Sophie Ha Girafa has been travelling virtually and effectively almost everywhere through her blog and her visits to the stores in the north, south, east and west.

I am thrilled when I get the "alert" that a new country sent a visitor. I know it does not help me much to making Sofi Hagirafa a household name in Israel but  I cannot help feeling simply happy at all those international visitors. Welcome Welcome! ^__^

More than half of you do come back to read more.... the others just happened to find us and left ^__^

In any case I am very happy to have such faithful readers for a tiny blog that moslty talks about Giraffes.

Sophie the giraffa סופי הג'יראפה  has also 100 friends on Facebook and seems to enjoy her page!

So from the bottom of my heart I really want to thank you, all of you, for your reading. It would make me very happy to get comments now and then but I understand:  let me not ask for too much! ^__^

Original pix on the Variety Children Charity site,

The Children’s Charity is dedicated to improving the lives of children around the world.